THE BEST OF MANHUNT

I finished reading THE BEST OF MANHUNT (Stark House Press, July 2019), yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The first and greatest crime fiction pulp magazine was the legendary BLACK MASK which ran from 1920 to 1951. It was in the pages of that magazine that American crime fiction masters Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler cut their teeth. When BLACK MASK folded, a new publication emerged in 1952, MANHUNT. The magazine ran until 1967 but the '50s were the best period in terms of stories and authors. 

BEST OF MANHUNT collects 39 stories from this era and the list of featured authors reads like a who's who of mid-century American crime writers. Among the authors included in this handsome trade paperback are Ed McBain, Mickey Spillane, Richard S. Prather, Gil Brewer, Helen Nielsen, David Goodis, Lawrence Block, John D. MacDonald, Fredric Brown, Donald Westlake, Harlan Ellison and Harry Whittington. 

Many of the stories are short, swift punches to the gut with didn't-see-it-coming twist endings that would have been right at home in the pages of EC Comics' CRIME SUSPENSTORIES and SHOCK SUSPENSE STORIES (both of which were also published in the 1950s). 

While there's not a bad story in the bunch, my favorite by far was HIT AND RUN by Richard Deming, an author I was completely unfamiliar with. It's one of the longer pieces in the book and the extra length gives Deming plenty of room in which to spin this truly diabolical yarn. 

A second volume of BEST OF MANHUNT is slated for publication later this year and you can bet I'll buy it, read it and enjoy it. 

If you're a fan of hardboiled, vintage crime fiction by some of the masters of the genre, you absolutely must read this book. 

Highest recommendation.